What do you need to know on CDP in 2024?

CPD Key Changes and things you should know before your submission.

CDP made significant changes to their disclosure platform in 2024 to, “further streamline reporting for organizations and generate the most comparable, comprehensive, decision useful data.” Key changes include an integrated questionnaire across all environmental topics (Climate, Water, Forests), a new dedicated questionnaire for SME’s, and the rollout of a new online disclosure portal. These changes are in addition to any updates to individual questions or overall scoring methodology, resulting in an extension to the 2024 disclosure cycle.

In 2023, 23,000 companies and 1,100 jurisdictions disclosed their ESG information through CDP, representing trillions of dollars of the global economy. Previously, CDP separated the disclosures for Climate Change, Water, and Forests. In 2024, users will complete one integrated questionnaire, which now also includes unscored modules on plastic and biodiversity. Users are only required to answer modules based on relevant requests they receive and will see modules scored separately. Additionally, these standards have been aligned to the ISSB IFRS S2 enabling the company’s to disclose once and communicate to a much broader audience, reducing the burden often associated with disparate global standards. These changes also better align the CDP questionnaire to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and TNFD recommendations as well as the United States SEC’s climate disclosure rule. Alignment across these separate date requests represents a global trend to encourage transparency and reduce the overall burden with obligated companies.

Coinciding with the opening of this year’s reporting window, CDP has announced a new online portal for corporate disclosures and requests. CDP has built upon their disclosure platform to streamline data entry and requests. They have also introduced a tailored platform for SME’s who experience a unique own set of sustainability challenges. This questionnaire focuses on climate change and won’t include the sector specific questions or data points, an aspect of the full corporate questionnaire. CDP integrates a new toolset to allow companies to track completion of their disclosure all within the platform.

Companies completing a CDP questionnaire can expect that their efforts will produce an increasingly standardized view of their performance with regards to these metrics. They will subsequently provide a comparable view on overall performance to stakeholders and investors who consider a strong ESG strategy as non-negotiable. To ensure the best score, disclosers of the in-depth questionnaire often contract with a consulting partner or pay for CDP’s additional in-house Reporter Services. Per CDP’s research, companies scoring in their A List, outperform their peers in the stock market by 5.5% and establish the strong link between environmental and social performance.

Companies often must dedicate extensive time and resources to follow through on their sustainability strategy, and the disclosure requirements can feel like constantly changing landscape to traverse. This evolution reflects the state of our dynamic climate. While these significant changes may seem daunting CDP has ensured that the information requested from users will not fundamentally change.